"Je n'ajoute ni lait ni sucre dans ma tisane."
Translation:I don't add either milk or sugar to my herbal tea.
39 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
1889
I would use "I add neither milk nor sugar to my herbal tea." Perhaps "I don't add either one, milk or sugar to my herbal tea." But please fix this lesson.
Echoing other comments - I would phrase this "I add neither milk nor sugar to my herbal tea".
The English is this app is sometimes terrible... Like in this lesson. Really... Find staff that are native English speakers...
- 1808
I suspect most (but not all) of the staff are native American speakers, and that many of them are under the delusion that they speak English.
- 768
We tend not to use the verb "to add" when talking about milk and sugar in tea. We either take it with or without or have it with or without.
- 2043
That must be a Briticism? In the US we'd definitely use "add" more often. Though there are definitely a lot of different ways of translating this they should accept but don't. They can be a bit literal at times, and then not at others.
I translated this as " I don't add milk or sugar to my tea", which is perfectly acceptable in English English!
It is true that in English if it is in the negative we use neither and nor rather than either and or
- 1808
Yes, normally in British English one would prefer to use "neither ... nor" rather than "not either ... nor". I can't speak for American English ; I'm pretty sure Australian English follows the British English usage.
- 2043
We do in American English as well, though I've definitely heard people not, but I'd say that was mistaken.
The vowel sound in "lait" is like the "e" in "neck". The vowel sound in "le" is like the "e" in "taken".
- 181
ni is translated as neither or either, so there is no reason not to translate this into correct English as many have already requested
- 1808
Yes. Some people even deliberately choose a version of "milk" that doesn't come from cows, and a tea that has a low enough pH to cause that milk-not-milk to curdle, creating fascinating convection patterns. What - some people do it differently to you? But that is always true, for all values of "people", "it" and "you".
- 805
I agree with all these comments, it's a slippery slope to a double negative, which obscures meaning.
- 1976
I think it is olainly wrong to use either or in these negative constructions. Either/or is only used to present two possible alternatives. Two impossible or unwanted alternatives are presented with neither/nor. This whole lesson is just confusing. Especially since it purports to be about food when it is actually about bad and illogical English (and snails).
- 1328
From a widely cited grammar reference:
"Whereas in English you have three ways to express the negation - not either… or / neither… nor… / not... or... - in French, you only use ne... ni... ni...
Duo is correctly using the first of these three options as the default.. The other two options are also accepted as equally valid.
So everyone is right!!!
https://french.kwiziq.com/revision/grammar/how-to-use-ne-ni-ni-neither-nor-negation